The Recent Manila Bay Incident Shows Throwing Your Garbage Everywhere Has Serious Consequences

Here's the latest news (which I got from CNN Philippines) and it's not really pretty, is it? Manila Bay suddenly throws back ALL its garbage at Roxas Boulevard in Imperial Manila. It's not a pretty sight and this reminds me of what some stupid fat bloke said that getting fined for throwing your garbage anywhere is harsh punishment. It's time to ask the question of did the person get tortured for throwing garbage or served jail term or was the person who threw garbage anywhere just merely getting fined? Just looking at that incident inspired me to write this post that should be a warning that throwing your garbage just anywhere is not some harmless habit that you can just ignore. Instead, the whole incident is already a warning of how it has terrible consequences.

Some stupid people say that throwing your garbage (which includes human body waste) just anywhere shouldn't harm anyone or if it doesn't affect me then I don't have the right to complain. WTF to that kind of thinking! It's really more than time to consider the consequences of throwing your garbage just anywhere instead of the proper place. I thought about how a lot of floods I see spew a lot of garbage. A lot of problems that were done when sewers are cleaned up are a result of solid wastes dumped through toilets and garbage thrown in the streets. The clogging happens thanks to the garbage. Worse, do they even consider the consequences of throwing your garbage into bodies of water? Not only does it kill marine life but it also contaminates water that is used for swimming and drinking water for animals? This would also invite a lot of rats which are bound to bring leptospirosis which has a very slim rate for survival for people infected by it.

Need I mention that squatters themselves DO NOT contribute to environmental preservation either? This reminds me of the Lee Kuan Yew quote that says that the rights of law-abiding citizens come first over the rights of offenders. It's not that offenders don't have the rights. They do have rights but not to get punished beyond their offense or to the right to a fair trial. However, one must consider how squatters themselves frequently break simple guidelines. It sickened me to think about how they just throw their garbage and human waste everywhere and they drink the same water. Just looking at the squatters reminds me of why in the world are people defending the rights of the squatters to squat just because they were born into a family of squatters? It's almost like defending someone's right to do crime because one is born into a family of criminals. 

It's more than time to think about how some developed countries have lesser floods (except those beyond their control) because they are very strict (yet reasonable) concerning garbage disposal. The reason why they give fines or penalties for improper garbage disposal is that it affects communities. They know the effects will clog up the sewage, invite pests, spread germs and destroy the environment. I really think it's more than time for the Philippines to adopt some of Singapore's policies such as fining people for improper waste disposal. Maybe it's time to increase the fine for any kind of improper waste disposal to PHP 1,500 or PHP 2,000 per offense. I would also suggest making people do community service as a punishment alongside the fine so they will realize how difficult the jobs of the street janitors are and that people should not rely too much on them to keep their places clean.

Claire Danes didn't deserve her persona non-grata last 1998 when she criticized how dirty Manila City is. It's unlike Agnes Callamard's meddling of political affairs in the Philippines. Danes' criticism was very valid especially she's a tourist and tourists are customers. Callamard would deserve persona non-grata for meddling in political affairs in the Philippines and helping the Yellow destabilizers in whatever crackpot scheme they have against the current administration. Plus, she was guilty of spreading misinformation such as shabu doesn't cause violence. It's not an issue who does the criticism but the question is whether or not said criticism is valid or not. Right now, I can welcome ALL criticism concerning the bad garbage disposal whether it's foreigners or Filipino who will say it -- because it's badly needed and people need to take throwing garbage just anywhere to be a very serious matter with very long-term disastrous consequences.

Don't give me the excuse that throwing garbage anywhere is part of the "glorious Filipino heritage" or that it's a "cultural pillar" of Filipino society. It's not. It's just like the stupidity of the barbarous Yulin festival or some Chinese traditions (such as foot folding) that had to go because they were just plain stupid. Since when did being a Filipino mean throwing garbage anywhere and that it makes you "less Filipino" if you throw your garbage into the right place? No, throwing your garbage in the right place should be a source of "Proud to be Pinoy" and not the habit of not throwing them in the right place. It's time to make this a new motto -- I am a Pinoy and I throw my garbage in the proper place!